About Me

Friday, 9 May 2014

The Russians Are Coming

It is quite like old
times. Big parades in Red Square for Moscow
Victory Day with cheering crowds bringing a smile to their President's normally
stern face and ships of the Russian Navy heading down the North Sea and English
Channel.

Luckily it was not like in
October 1904 when the Russian Baltic Fleet attacked and sank some Hull fishing
trawlers at the Dogger Bank believing they were Japanese motor torpedo
boats. Britain then had a treaty with
Japan but Russia had gone to war against them which they lost disastrously.

The Royal Navy were sent
out from Chatham, Portsmouth and Devonport to remind the Russian's of our might
and their errors. This month we could
manage only a single destroyer wandering around their rear tracking their
signals.

The Russians are heading
for the Med'. At one time the Brit's
regarded this as their waters but no longer. Now it is the fief of none except
the boats carrying migrants fleeing the hardships of Africa for the security of
Europe.

The Russian's might find their
way into the Black Sea in case anybody wants to interfere with the takeover of
The Crimea. Unlike in the 1850's France
and Britain are unlikely to go to war in the Crimea to turf the Russians out.

We haven't the ships, we
haven't the men and we haven't the money too, to parody the old jingo song I
learned at Grannie's knee. Britain
now does not rule the waves or anything.
We might win the Nobel prize for useless whingeing if there was one.

All we can do is to tamely
follow the loons of Brussels and the lame of Washington DC in making matters
worse for the peoples in troubled places in an attempt to gain contracts for
either the few British firms left British, or at least the ones that fund our
political parties.

Is it around sixty years ago
since I stood on the banks of The Elbe along with a few riflemen of The Cameronians and
troopers of The Royals chucking empty beer bottles in the general direction of
the Soviet patrols on the other side telling them we would be in Moscow by
Friday?

When I was back at the
signals truck the traffic was crazy. At
least then they took us seriously.